Squat exercising machine

ABSTRACT

A squat exercising machine (1) includes a base mount (10), a swivel rack (20) and a resistance device (30) connected with the swivel rack (20). The swivel rack (20) has a first end (22), a second end (24) opposite to the first end (24), a shoulder abutment portion (28) adjacent to the second end (24), and a pivot portion (25) adjacent to the first end (22) and pivotally connected with the base mount (10) by a pivot (26) in a way that the swivel rack (20) is upwardly swingable about the pivot (26) from a received position (P2) to an exercising position (P1). An included angle between an imaginary line that passes through the first and second ends (22, 24) and an imaginary plumb line (L) is equal to or less than 30 degrees when the swivel rack (20) is positioned at the received position (P2) and viewed from an end of the pivot (26). As such, the squat exercising machine (1) can be set in a received state for easy storage, thereby increasing space using efficiency.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to a fitness equipment and more particularly, to a squat exercising machine.

2. Description of the Related Art

Squat exercise is conventionally realized by using barbell as an assistant tool. For beginners, the aforesaid training method may be liable to train undesired muscle groups due to wrong posture, resulting in poor training effect and increase of the chance of physical injury. Mechanical equipment, such as a squat training device having a fixed motion trajectory, is generally used to help beginners to do squat exercise with a correct body posture so as to effectively reduce the chance of physical injury.

The conventional squat training device is equipped with a shoulder abutment portion, which is able to be moved in a predetermined trajectory and adapted to be abutted by user's shoulders, such that the user can do the squat exercise by following the trajectory. The squat training device is further equipped with a load-adjustable resistance device, which can be adjusted to a desired resistance according to the needs of the user. However, the aforesaid mechanism makes the conventional squat training device have a considerable volume, which is not conducive to space utilization. In particular, the shoulder abutment portion is usually configured protruding over a base mount of the conventional squat training device in order that the shoulder abutment portion can be properly abutted by the user's shoulders, resulting in that the user may get injury due to accident bump with the shoulder abutment portion. Therefore, avoiding the foregoing disadvantages is a goal to be reached by the manufacturers in this industry field.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been accomplished in view of the above-noted circumstances. It is an objective of the present invention to provide a squat exercising machine, which can be set in a received state for easy storage, thereby enhancing space using efficiency. Another objective of the present invention is to provide a squat exercising machine, which can be easily set by a user from a storage state to an exercising state.

To attain the above objectives, the present invention provides a squat exercising machine comprising a base mount, a swivel rack and a resistance device connected with the swivel rack. The swivel rack has a first end, a second end opposite to the first end, a shoulder abutment portion adjacent to the second end, and a pivot portion adjacent to the first end and pivotally connected with the base mount by a pivot in a way that the swivel rack is upwardly swingable about the pivot from a received position to an exercising position. An included angle between an imaginary line that passes through the first and second ends and an imaginary plumb line is equal to or less than 30 degrees when the swivel rack is positioned at the received position and viewed from an end of the pivot. As such, the squat exercising machine can be set in a received state for easy storage, thereby increasing space using efficiency.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herein below and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a squat exercising machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, showing an exercising position of a swivel rack;

FIG. 2 is a lateral elevational view of the squat exercising machine of the embodiment of the present invention, showing a received position of the swivel rack; and

FIG. 3 is a schematic view, showing the squat exercising machine of the embodiment of the present invention is in a state of use.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The structure and technical features of the present invention will be detailedly described hereunder by a preferred embodiment and accompany drawings.

As shown in FIGS. 1-2, a squat exercising machine 1 provided by a preferred embodiment of the present invention is composed of a base mount 10, a swivel rack 20, and a resistance device 30 connected with the swivel rack 20.

The base mount 10 includes a base frame 12 to be placed on a support surface 40, a stand frame 14 extending upwardly from the base frame 12, two lower pulleys 17 disposed on the base frame 12, and two pedals 19 disposed at an end portion of the base frame 12 remote from the stand frame 14 for being stepped by a user thereon. The two pulleys 17 are located between the stand frame 14 and the pedals 19. The support surface 40 may be a floor, a ground or any surface that may support the base frame 12.

The swivel rack 20 is a Y-shaped member, including a support member 21, a first end 22 at a terminal end of the support member 21, two support arms 23 extending bifurcately from the support member 21, two second ends 24 opposite to the first end 22 at the terminal ends of the two support arms 23, a pivot portion 25 at the support member 21 adjacent to the first end 22, an upper pulley 27 disposed between the two support arms 23 by a transverse rod 272, two shoulder abutment portions 28 disposed respectively at bottoms of the support arms 23 adjacent to the second ends 24, and two handlebars 29 located respectively at outer lateral sides of the two support arms 23 for being grasped by user's hands. The pivot portion 25 is pivotally connected with the stand frame 14 of the base mount 10 by a pivot 26, such that the swivel rack 20 is upwardly swingable about the pivot 26 from a received position P2, as shown in FIG. 2, to an exercising position P1, as shown in FIG. 1, relative to the base mount 10. The shoulder abutment portions 28 are located above the pedals 19 for being abutted against the user's shoulders.

It is to be mentioned that the structure and shape of the swivel rack 20 may be modified. For example, the support member 21 and the two support arms 23 may be configured not in a coplanar manner, and the swivel rack 20 may be not Y-shaped. The second end 24 mentioned in this invention is directed to a portion of the swivel rack 20, which is remote from the first end 22. One or more second ends 24 may be sufficient in this invention, and the two shoulder abutment portions 28 may be consolidated into one unitary member.

The resistance device 30 is composed of a flexible member 32 connected with the base frame 12 and the swivel rack 20, and a damper 34 disposed to the base frame 12 of the base mount 10 and connected with an end of the flexible member 32. The flexible member 32 is wound around, in succession, one of the lower pulleys 17 of the base frame 12, the upper pulley 27 of the swivel rack 20, and the other of the lower pulleys 17 of the base frame 12, and has the other end fixedly connected with the base frame 12. The damper 34 is configured to provide a resistance force against the flexible member 32 when the flexible member 32 is pulled and moved, such that the resistance device 30 can provide a resistance force against the swivel rack 20 when the swivel rack 20 is upwardly swung relative to the base mount 10. The aforesaid resistance force may be originated from fluid resistance, weight, magnetic force, resilient force, etc.

For the flexible member 32, a rope, woven belt, chain or other flexible elongated piece may be used. For the damper 34, various commercially available dampers may be used. In this embodiment, a water damper, which has been detailedly disclosed in AU Patent No. 751065, is used for the damper 34, such that the structure and operation thereof are not going to be repeatedly described hereinafter.

With the above-mentioned structural design, the swivel rack 20 can be pushed by a user to the exercising position P1 when the user is doing exercise, as shown in FIG. 3, At this state, the part of the flexible member 32 that is wound around the pulleys 17, 27 is substantially perpendicular to an imaginary line (not shown) passing through the first and second ends 22, 24. That is, the part of the flexible member 32 is substantially parallel to an imaginary plumb line L. By means of stepping on the pedals 19 with user's feet, abutting against the shoulder abutment portions 28 with the user's shoulders and grasping the handlebars 29 with the user's hands, the user can push the swivel rack 20 up and down to do squat exercise. When the user would like to take a rest and the user's force exerting on the swivel rack 20 is released, the swivel rack 20 will automatically swing downwardly, without user's effort, from the exercising position P1 to a received position P2, as shown in FIG. 2, due to the weight of the swivel rack 20 and the work of the resistance device 30. At this state, an included angle between the imaginary line (not shown), which passes through the first and second ends 22, 24, and the imaginary plumb line L, which passes through the pivot 26, is about 20 degrees when the swivel rack 20 is viewed from an end of the pivot 26, i.e. viewed from a lateral side of the squat exercising machine 1 as shown in FIG. 2. Besides, the imaginary line, which passes through the first and second ends 22, 24, extends through a space between the two lower pulleys 17, the second ends 24 are located adjacent to the support surface 40, and the part of the flexible member 32, which is wound around the pulleys 17, 27, is substantially parallel to the aforesaid imaginary line. As such, the squat exercising machine 1 is set at a received manner for easy storage, thereby enhancing space using efficiency and preventing user from injury due to bump of the swivel rack by accident so as to achieve the objectives of the present invention. In another embodiment, the included angle between the imaginary line that passes through the first and second ends 22, 24 and the imaginary plumb line L is preferably equal to or less than 30 degrees when the swivel rack 20 is positioned at the received position P2 and viewed from an end of the pivot 26, and more preferably not greater than 20 degrees.

The squat exercising machine 1 of the present invention can be conveniently stored and the swivel rack 20 can be easily operated by the user from the received position P2 to the exercising position P1. As shown in FIG. 2, the flexible member 32 is gradually pulled out of the damper 34 during the process that the swivel rack 20 is moved from the received position P2 to the exercising position P1. Because the extending direction of the flexible member 32 is approximately parallel to the imaginary line passing through the first and second ends 22, 24 when the swivel rack 20 is positioned at the received position P2, i.e. the resistance force acting on the swivel rack 20 from the resistance device 30 is in a direction approximately passing through the pivot portion 25, the torque is too small to be neglected. At this state, the user can easily lift up the swivel rack 20 as long as the user's force acting on the swivel rack 20 exceeds over the weight of the swivel rack 20. As the swivel rack 20 is gradually swung upwardly, the resistance force of the resistance device 30 to the swivel rack 20 increases gradually; however, the user can still lift up the swivel rack 20 easily because the moment arm that is perpendicular to the resistance force does not change much, such that the generated torque is not large. When the swivel rack 20 gradually approaches the exercising position P1, the user needs to apply a relatively larger force to the swivel rack 20. At this state, the user may use his/her shoulders to abut against the shoulder abutment portion 28 and to support the swivel rack 20 with his/her body strength. When the swivel rack 20 is located at the exercising position P1, the torque generated by the resistance device 30 to the swivel rack 20 reaches a maximum extent because the direction of the force of the flexible member 32 is approximately perpendicular to the imaginary line passing through the first and second ends 22, 24. By means of lifting the swivel rack 20 up and down, the user can do squat exercise properly. In view of forgoing discussion, it can be understood that the swivel rack 20 can be easily moved from the received position P2, which enables the squat exercising machine 1 to be conveniently stored, to the exercising position P1.

It is worth mentioning that the design of the flexible member 32 and the resistance device 34 can be modified in the present invention. For example, one or more weight plates mounted top the swivel rack 20 may be used in lieu of the flexible member 32 and the resistance device 34, such that the load can be adjusted according to the user's needs. Alternatively, the flexible member 32 may be realized as a resilient member, such as a coil spring, having two ends fixedly mounted to the base frame 12 and the swivel rack 20, respectively. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A squat exercising machine, comprising: a base mount; a swivel rack having a first end, a second end opposite to the first end, a shoulder abutment portion adjacent to the second end, and a pivot portion adjacent to the first end and pivotally connected with the base mount by a pivot in a way that the swivel rack is upwardly swingable about the pivot from a received position to an exercising position; and a resistance device connected with the swivel rack; wherein an included angle between an imaginary line that passes through the first and second ends of the swivel rack and an imaginary plumb line is equal to or less than 30 degrees when the swivel rack is positioned at the received position and viewed from an end of the pivot.
 2. The squat exercising machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the base mount is adapted to be placed on a support surface; the second end is located adjacent to the support surface when the swivel rack is positioned at the received position.
 3. The squat exercising machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the included angle is equal to or less than 20 degrees when the swivel rack is positioned at the received position and viewed from the end of the pivot.
 4. The squat exercising machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the base mount comprises a base frame for being placed on a support surface, and a stand frame extending upwardly from the base frame; the resistance device comprises a flexible member connected with the base frame and the swivel rack; the flexible member is substantially perpendicular to the imaginary line when the swivel rack is located at the exercising position.
 5. The squat exercising machine as claimed in claim 4, wherein the swivel rack is disposed with an upper pulley and the base frame is disposed with two lower pulleys; the flexible member is wound around, in succession, one of the lower pulleys, the upper pulley, and the other of the lower pulleys.
 6. The squat exercising machine as claimed in claim 5, wherein the imaginary line extends through a space between the two lower pulleys when the swivel rack is positioned at the received position and viewed from the end of the pivot.
 7. The squat exercising machine as claimed in claim 4, wherein the flexible member is substantially parallel to the imaginary line when the swivel rack is positioned at the received position.
 8. The squat exercising machine as claimed in claim 7, wherein the resistance device comprises a damper disposed to the base mount and connected with an end of the flexible member.
 9. The squat exercising machine as claimed in claim 5, wherein the flexible member is substantially parallel to the imaginary line when the swivel rack is positioned at the received position.
 10. The squat exercising machine as claimed in claim 9, wherein the resistance device comprises a damper disposed to the base mount and connected with an end of the flexible member.
 11. The squat exercising machine as claimed in claim 6, wherein the flexible member is substantially parallel to the imaginary line when the swivel rack is positioned at the received position.
 12. The squat exercising machine as claimed in claim 11, wherein the resistance device comprises a damper disposed to the base mount and connected with an end of the flexible member. 